Regardless of the fact that they are no longer mere instruments for communication and hold a lot of sensitive information like our debit card PIN numbers, email passwords etc., many of us still forget to lock our mobile phones. That is same as leaving the front door of a house unlocked or forgetting the keys in the car.
As NFC (near field communication) is round the corner, it is high time we begin demonstrating safer and smarter mobile phone habits. With NFC, if stolen, our mobile phones will soon put us at even more risk because they would have become one of the payment mediums for our merchandise purchases. This will make them even more valuable than their present face value.
Hence, if your mobile phone doesn’t lock itself while in sleep mode, ensure it does so from now on. You need to be careful about it just like you would in case of your email passwords, debit card PIN numbers or the keys of your home.
Protecting your mobile phones doesn’t stop at locking them alone. You must also be careful about the applications you download on your phone. Just like there are malicious applications which can steal information from your computer, there are similar applications which can steal information from your mobile too. Furthermore, never perform any banking tasks on your mobile phone while you’re on an unknown or public Wi-Fi network. Doing so can be as dangerous as passing on all your confidential personal details to a complete stranger.
Please keep in mind that our mobile phones are no longer ‘just phones’ and they must be treated in the same manner. So lock them now.
